


All's Well that Ends Well

by concernedhobbits



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Chaos, F/F, Fluff, Misunderstandings, Valentine's Day, merlin cupid exchange
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 17:22:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29439666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/concernedhobbits/pseuds/concernedhobbits
Summary: Merlin wants to help his friends Gwen and Morgana fall in love with each other by helping them find the perfect gifts for each other. But with an important festival at hand and the demands of Arthur becoming more and more exhausting, he may have bitten off more than he can chew.
Relationships: Gwen/Morgana (Merlin)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter One

“Merlin! Where are you? MERLIN!”  
A scrawny boy of about seventeen raced down the hall, balancing an ornate tray of delicacies in his arms. “Coming, sire!” he yelled as he barreled past other servants going the opposite way, among whom there were fewer disgruntled expressions than one would have expected. It was well known amongst the Camelot palace staff that Prince Arthur was quite demanding of his servant, and today was no exception. This evening was the final night of a three day festival, and King Uther had invited many the royal in hopes that he might be able to find suitable matches for his son, Prince Arthur, and his ward, the Lady Morgana. Tonight was to be a grand tournament and ball, and even the lowliest folk of the land were looking forward to their own celebrations among the delightful and romantic atmosphere. But Arthur’s servant, Merlin, knew that today as going to be long and exhausting and he looked forward to when the celebrations would be over. Unfortunately, they had only really just begun in earnest, and quite nastily too, he thought, as he had been rushing about the castle trying to prepare for Arthur’s big day since dawn. Unfortunately, it seemed the young prince had awoken earlier than expected.  
Merlin skidded as he arrived at the large double-door to Arthur’s room, his heart racing. He took a moment to compose himself with a large breath, quite satisfied that he had reached his master’s room with minimal mishap. He took a caring moment to rearrange the items on the tray before entering with a cheerful flourish that he knew Arthur would find most irritating. He looked around, ready to utter a polite morning greeting. The prince’s chambers looked much like they always did in the mornings; slightly untidy with clothes and blankets slung over chairs and falling precariously off the four-poster bed. But Merlin felt there was something odd about the room. The curtains, usually closed, were wide open, casting beams of sunlight into the airy room. He looked around, and noticed with alarm there was no sign of the prince anywhere. Usually he would still be sprawled in bed, contently snoring so loud he wouldn’t have heard if the world was ending. Merlin frowned, then, afraid that Arthur was hiding to give him a nasty scare, put the tray down on the table and squatted down to look under the bed.  
“Ah, Merlin! At last.”  
Merlin felt his heart leap into his throat in panic as he flailed and lept to his feet, turning only to see the future king of Camelot, Arthur Pendragon, leaning on the doorframe. The muscular boy’s hair was unusually mussed but the expression of cocky irritation and superiority was to Merlin unfortunately constant. Merlin’s eyes widened. “Sire?”  
Arthur gave a tight smile. “Merlin.”  
“What on earth was that about?” Merlin gestured wildly towards the door. The cheeky prat must had waited out in the hallway for him to enter just to scare him when he came in.  
“I might ask you the same thing.” Arthur crossed his arms. “Why are you late with my breakfast?”  
Merlin stared at him incredulously. “I was not late.”  
“Um, actually you were.” Arthur matched Merlin’s expression in a way that was so infuriating Merlin felt half inclined to take the tray and bash him over the head repeatedly. “Didn’t I remind you again and again, Merlin? I have to be up early so I can make it to judge the tournament and attend the ball.”  
“You did remind me,” Merlin said patiently, “and I did get up early. But it looks like you must be nervous because you got up before even I did.”  
It was Arthur’s turn for his eyes to widen. “I am not nervous!” he exclaimed a little too loudly. Merlin raised an eyebrow. Arthur flailed around for a second, frantically searching for something for Merlin to do before his eyes landed on a pile of filthy clothes and armor. “Right,” he announced, looking pleased with himself. “For that insolence, you had best make sure my best clothes and armor are ready for tonight.” He glared at Merlin. “I have a lot riding on this evening. For all I know, tonight at the festival, I could meet my future queen.”  
Merlin snorted quietly as he walked over and began picking up the laundry, waiting until he almost had all of it in hand before he muttered. “By the time you find yourself a queen who could actually stand you, you’ll have to call her your next of kin.”  
He ducked and ran out of the room before the flabbergasted Arthur could find time to respond. Arthur’s responses to these things, Merlin had found, were usually quite violent.


	2. Chapter Two

Merlin had not gotten very far down the hall before a musical voice rang out. “Is that you, Merlin?”  
Merlin turned around. He could’ve sworn that was Lady Morgana’s voice, but as she was nowhere in sight and he had no idea why she would want him, he turned hesitantly back towards where he was going.  
“Psst,” came the voice again, “To your left.” From behind a pilar, a slender white hand in a green sleeve waved at him. Merlin furrowed his brow and hesitantly walked over. Sure enough, it was Lady Morgana, looking radiant as ever in a gown of green silks. Merlin set his basket down where it made a loud clank as Arthur’s armor shifted. Morgana urged him to be quiet with a silent gesture, and peeked around the corner once more before turning to him. Merlin stood with his hands behind his back, as politely as he could be. Morgana took a deep breath. “I need your help.”  
Merlin bowed slightly. “I’d be happy to assist you, My Lady.” Personally he wondered what was wrong. Was someone bothering Morgana? He couldn’t see why she’d go to him for that. He’d always liked her, but they weren’t particularly close, and every time he saw her he felt a bit awkward. She wasn’t at all like Arthur, the clotpole he was. She seemed like real royalty, warm and kind and yet somehow unreachable.  
Morgana smiled freely at him. “Thank you! Thank you so much.” She bit her lip and lowered her eyes, searching for words. Merlin waited quietly. After a long pause she looked at him again. “First, please just call me Morgana. You’re friends with Gwen, right?”  
He glanced about awkwardly. He would have thought this was obvious. “Of course,” he replied. “Why?”  
Morgana looked around almost shyly before she leaned into him confidentially. “Well, you see, Gwen and I are really… well, I don’t know.” She blushed. Merlin wondered for a moment how long it would take him to do Arthur’s laundry and brushed it off, focusing on the matter at hand. “Yes?” he said politely.  
With a sigh Morgana adjusted a few curls, looking more flustered than Merlin had ever seen her. “I suppose… I’m in love with Gwen.”  
Merlin’s eyes grew as big as saucers and he had to wave his hands around a bit, backing away to the point where he nearly tripped over Arthur’s laundry basket. “That’s amazing!” he said, perhaps a bit loudly. He’d seen Gwen give Morgana enough longing looks to have assumed that there was something else going on, and it was nice to know at least Morgana felt the same. At Morgana’s keen glance, though, he tiptoed back, lowering his voice. “Wait - does she know?”  
“Well, I was… I was going to -” Morgana’s face turned an even deeper red as she looked down. “I suppose I was going to ask her to spend the day with me. Give her a break from her tasks for a picnic or something like that.”  
“That’s wonderful,” Merlin whispered, clapping his hands together delightedly. He took a deep breath. “What can I do?”  
Morgana twisted her hands and made eye contact with him again. “So, uh, well Gwen’s so delightful. And she does love bringing me things like flowers. But she insists that I oughtn't give her anything. She’s so humble and says that she doesn’t need anything. But.. I do dearly want to give her something lovely. Something that can highlight how beautiful she is and how much she means to me.” Morgana cleared her throat a bit, excitement overcoming her previous embarrassment. “But she always has such an eye on me. I can never find time to pick her out something because she insists I oughtn’t get her anything. And today of all days I want to spend time with her. So I was wondering… if I gave you some coin, would you be able to find her something? A necklace or a ring, perhaps? Something small and delicate. I’d pay you, if you required - ”  
At these words, Merlin shook his head decisively. “No. I’d be happy to do you a favor.” he grinned wildly. “You can trust me with this.”  
The Lady Morgana gave Merlin a tight hug. “Thank you. Thank you so much. I shall never repay you.”  
Merlin smiled. “Take care of Gwen and it shall be payment enough.”  
Morgana released him. “And you promise you’ll keep this between us?”  
“You’ll never hear anything from me.”  
Morgana smiled as she made an over-exaggerated “Shhhhhhh” sign with her hand as she handed him a small pouch that Merlin could feel was heavy with coin. He gave her a deep bow in return before he turned with an attempted wink (he’d never found a knack for that), picking up his laundry and striding away with a secret smile and a slight spring in his step.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the plot thickens hehe

“Gaius!” Merlin called out as he struggled with the door to his chambers, which he shared with the royal physician and advisor to the king, Gaius, who was also Merlin’s guardian here in Camelot.   
“Ah!” the old man gave a muffled reply before the door opened and Merlin caught a glimpse of Gaius’ signature well-tended locks and permanent skeptical brow. “So,” he intoned. “You’re back already, aren’t you.”  
Merlin made a face as he shuffled in. “Arthur wants me to do his laundry.”  
“Really?” Gaius raised his eyebrows. “How shocking. And on the last day of the festival too. One would think that servants of kings have greater obligations upon greater occasions.”  
“Laugh all you want,” Merlin hefted the basket onto the table with a huff before collapsing into a chair. “But I was hoping for a day off. I’m positive if I don’t get some sleep soon, my feet are going to fall off.”  
“Not if your mouth doesn’t with all that complaining first!” Gaius chuckled. “I’ll go put the kettle on. Oh, and,” he looked meaningfully at Merlin, “you have a visitor.”  
Merlin almost groaned before heaving himself out of the chair and dragging his feet upstairs, pretending not to hear Gaius’ affectionate laughs behind him. He opened his door reluctantly before a smile came across his face.  
“Gwen!”  
Gwen was perched on the single chair in Merlin’s room, frantically messing with something wooly in her lap. She glanced up, looking rather like a startled deer, before slightly smiling. “Hi, Merlin.”  
Merlin crossed his arms. “What on earth are you doing here?” He thought of his encounter with Morgana and had to hold back an elated giggle.   
“It’s a bit of a funny story,” Gwen rose, the fuzzy thing clenched in her hands. “I left a project until a bit to late, and Gaius let me have a bit of a quiet space so I could try to finish it.”  
“Oh,” Merlin laughed. “What is it?”  
Gwen blushed slightly and drew out a lump of green, grey, and purple wool with two large sticks shoved in, rather haphazardly. “I wanted to finish these gloves for Morgana before I saw her.”  
Merlin squinted. “Is that… knitting?”  
Gwen furrowed her brow, her eyes wide. “Does it look awful?”  
“No, no!” Merlin shook his head quickly. “I think it’s brilliant! That’s amazing!” He walked over to inspect it. Gwen reflexively drew away and he stopped in his tracks. “Why do you look worried.”  
Gwen sighed and sat down, burying her head in her hands. “They’re not done. And we’re going to be so busy today and I was so hoping that they would be. But it’s my fault.”  
“No,” Merlin replied, kneeling down to rub her back.   
“But it is. If I hadn’t left them for so late… no. It was stupid. And now I’ll never have them done in time. I’ll be so busy all day.”  
Merlin hardly perceived words leaving his mouth. “I’ll finish them for you!” he blurted, then instantly regretted it. Had he said that? Why would he have said that?  
Gwen brought her head out of her hands, an incredulous smile creeping across her face. “You would? I mean, I had no idea you could knit?” She suddenly looked doubtful. “You… can knit, can’t you?”  
Merlin shrugged helplessly. He had to commit to it now. “Yes,” he replied, hating himself with every word. “I can. And I will.” He forced a smile. “You go on to work now.”  
“Thank you!” Gwen threw her arms around him and Merlin was struck with a powerful sense of deja vu. He hugged her back, trying to ignore the rising panic in his stomach. Gwen released him and rose, with a smile. “I’ll be back to get them before nightfall, I promise.”  
“Don’t worry,” Merlin managed a genuine smile this time. “I love you, Gwen.”  
“I love you too, Merlin.” Gwen squeezed his hand, leaving her knitting on the chair before grabbing her satchel and running out the door. Merlin lay down on his bed, almost unable to process what had just happened.   
Gaius, his hearing better than Merlin anticipated every time something embarrassing happened, poked his head in the door. “What was that about?” he asked passively and innocently. Merlin sighed.  
“Have you any books about knitting, Gaius,” he said wearily.


End file.
